MISFIRING ON YOUTH CRIME

The Governor's Commission on Criminal Justice Innovation misfired this week
when it suggested that summer jobs for young people, school-based
enrichment programs, and raids on drug-market locations are ineffective
crime-fighting measures. It's a curious conclusion considering that such
measures were key components in Boston's successful anticrime strategies of
the late 1990s.

Old data might explain some of the misconceptions. The bipartisan
commission, chaired by Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, relied on academic
analyses of erratic summer-job programs from the early 1980s. The outlook
had changed more than a decade later when city and business leaders
provided nearly every low-income teenager in Boston with an opportunity for
a summer job. Youth crime fell sharply as young people discovered that
private-sector employers, not gangs, were the paths to prosperity.

Healey, a criminologist, is right to question assumptions about what works
and what doesn't in fighting crime. Some of what she calls "feel-good"
programs, such as the DARE antidrug program, are not impressive. But she
should apply the same wary eye to national studies performed before law
enforcement officials developed community policing models that combine
strict enforcement with strong prevention measures.

Drug raids are a good example. Some national researchers believe that the
positive effects of such sweeps last only a few days. In Boston, however,
the 1994 raid on an open-air heroin market in a Mission Hill public housing
project helped convince federal funders that the city would not squander
public housing and empowerment zone funds, both of which later flowed into
the city. The raid also brought together local, state, and federal law
enforcement officials who later led long-term assaults on gang violence.

Much of the report is thorough and thoughtful. A recommendation for
mandatory supervision for all offenders leaving prison, and increased
funding for probation and parole departments, should reduce recidivism.

The most innovative recommendation argues for sharing information between
law enforcement and human services agencies, such as the Department of
Mental Health and the Department of Social Services. Recent research in one
Boston neighborhood found that police believe that many of the people they
encountered during investigations would benefit more from social services
than law enforcement. The report also argues that such gains can be made
without sacrificing privacy. The report makes clear that the Romney
administration wants to look forward in the field of law enforcement. But
it should recognize that some earlier models -- such as summer jobs for
youths -- helped to stabilize Boston's neighborhoods.